The present invention can be applied in particular to the control of industrial sites, in particular landfills, treatment plants and/or biogas generating stations, to which the following description specifically refers without loss of generality.
In the fields indicated above, an instrument comprising an electronic nose which is moved to different areas of the industrial site is commonly used.
This procedure, however, has several drawbacks: the detection operations in the various areas take much time; for the detection operations, an operator, who moves around the site, is required continuously; it is not possible to detect the odour in several areas simultaneously.
Another known method is to position odour captivators (i.e. devices that periodically collect air samples) in different areas of the industrial site for given periods of time (typically one day), collect them and check their content via the use of an electronic nose.
In this way it is not possible to detect the odour pattern (i.e., for example, whether it is constant or reaches peaks) at various times of the day.
Furthermore, the methods used so far in the state of the art do not appear to allow the odour pattern to be identified and monitored in greater depth in specific areas of the site.
The patent document DE10121033 discloses a system for measuring the concentration of carbon dioxide, said system comprising a multiplexer connected to a plurality of ducts via respective vessels. In use, the gas is pumped through the ducts towards the multiplexer by a plurality of pumps, each arranged at one end of a relative duct opposite the multiplexer. This type of structure has some drawbacks, comprising the following: the system has a relatively high complexity and cost, since it requires a relatively high number of pumps; measurements of the samples from the various ducts can be distorted due to the different efficiencies of the pumps (the pumps may function in a slightly different way); any maintenance work on the pumps has to be performed in different places; and the remote pumping of the gas can entail variable and non-predictable pressure losses.
The object of the present invention is to provide a method and a system which overcome, at least partially, the drawbacks of the known art and at the same time are easy and inexpensive to produce.